Experimental Ethnography and Multimodality

Get a PDF copy of this course →

Course Description

Experimental ethnography begins where method becomes medium. It treats writing, drawing, mapping, film, and sound not as mere representations but as ways of thinking—forms of inquiry that operate through materials, gestures, and affects. This course introduces students to the theoretical foundations and practical experiments of multimodal ethnography, where knowledge is crafted, sensed, and performed.

Blending anthropology, art, and design, the course invites students to treat ethnography as an aesthetic practice of relation. Through workshops, readings, and field-based studio sessions, participants explore how montage, collage, and experimentation can open new epistemic spaces. Rather than seeking closure or coherence, students learn to work through fragmentation, rhythm, and form—discovering ethnography as both inquiry and composition. The semester culminates in a Collective Exhibition of Ethnographic Experiments, where students present a multimodal artifact or installation piece developed throughout the course.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

Identify key debates in anthropology and European Ethnology regarding experimental and multimodal ethnography.
Understand the relationship between method, form, and medium in ethnographic knowledge production.
Experiment with writing, drawing, and sound as analytical tools.
Develop multimodal artifacts (zines, maps, short films, installations) as ethnographic reasoning devices.
Reflect critically on the ethics, aesthetics, and politics of representation.

Guiding Questions

How can ethnography be practiced as both analysis and art?
What happens when fieldwork becomes an act of composition?
How can different media—sound, text, image, gesture—produce distinct forms of ethnographic knowledge?
What ethical and curatorial responsibilities arise when experimenting with the lives of others?

Course Structure

Component	Hours	Description
Seminar Sessions	28	Theoretical and methodological discussions on experimental ethnography, multimodality, and creative methods.
Studio Labs	28	Practical workshops on writing, drawing, sound, and visual ethnography.
Independent Reading & Practice	74	Readings, field documentation, and individual creative work.
Presentation & Reflection	24	Preparation and presentation of the Collective Exhibition of Ethnographic Experiments.
Total	180 Hours	5 ECTS credits

Assessment

All assignments are designed to build incrementally toward the final Collective Exhibition of Ethnographic Experiments, where students present an artifact (zine, sound piece, film, collage, or mixed-media work) and a short methodological reflection.

Component	Description	Weight
Field Journal (4 entries)	Short experimental fieldnotes (300–400 words each), exploring alternative forms such as sensory notes, dialogues, or poetic fragments.	25%
Medium Translation Exercise	A two-part assignment where one ethnographic observation is translated into a new medium (e.g., text → sound; photo → poem), accompanied by a 300-word reflection on the shift in meaning.	25%
Final Project	A multimodal artifact for the collective exhibition + a 400-word reflection titled “What experimenting ethnographically taught me.”	30%
Participation	Active engagement in seminar discussions, studio labs, and peer critique.	20%

How to Work with the Assessments

Field Journal: Think of it as your ethnographic sketchbook. Each lab yields a fragment that may evolve into one journal entry. Bring drafts to class for review (Weeks 3 and 6).
Medium Translation: Developed across Weeks 4–6 through a guided process of reworking material across media.
Final Project: In Weeks 7–8, you will curate your strongest materials and assemble them into a coherent artifact, ready for public exhibition.

Weekly Schedule

Each week combines conceptual readings, hands-on exercises, and experimental labs that build toward your final artifact.

Week 1 – Ethnography as Experiment

Opening note

Before beginning our first discussion and field exercise, we will dedicate part of the session to reviewing the course program together. We will go through its structure, aims, and expectations in detail—clarifying how the seminar, field labs, and assignments connect as well as the process for the final collective exhibition.

Students are expected to have already read the entire syllabus before class and to bring any questions, suggestions, or uncertainties for discussion. The goal is to treat the syllabus as a shared ethnographic artifact —a document we will revisit, modify if needed, and collectively inhabit throughout the semester.

Key Ideas:

Method as medium · Field as composition · Ethnography as making

Guiding Questions:

When does a method become a medium?
What kinds of knowledge appear when we treat making as inquiry?

Readings:

Clifford, James, and George E. Marcus, eds. Writing Culture. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986. (Introduction)
Fischer, Michael M. J. 2018. Anthropological Futures. Durham: Duke University Press. (Ch. 1, “Emergent Forms of Life and the Anthropological Imagination”)

Seminar (2 hrs)

Course orientation: reviewing syllabus as a shared ethnographic artifact.
Lecture-discussion on the genealogy of experimental ethnography.
Group debate: when does “method” become “medium”?
Short reflective exercise: list three personal forms of experimentation you already practice unconsciously in everyday life.

Studio Lab (1 hr): Learning Through Form

Objective: Reinterpret an ordinary observation as an experiment.
Procedure: Choose one everyday scene and describe it three times—factually, sensorially, and poetically.
Output: Three 100-word micro-fragments for your first Field Journal entry.

Week 2 – Writing as Method

Key Ideas:

Fragment · Montage · Poetic ethnography

Guiding Questions:

How do fragment and montage reconfigure ethnographic truth claims?
What does poetic form reveal—and conceal—about the field?

Readings:

Stewart, Kathleen. Ordinary Affects. Durham: Duke University Press, 2007. (Selections)
Taussig, Michael. I Swear I Saw This. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011. (Preface)

Seminar (2 hrs)

Discussion: ethnographic writing as aesthetic and analytic composition.
Collective close reading of Stewart’s fragmentary style.
Mini-workshop on the ethnographic vignette and the power of omission.

Studio Lab (1 hr): Ethnographic Montage

Objective: Compose a short experimental text (250 words) from overheard phrases, textures, and gestures collected during the week.
Output: One “field montage” to be revised for the final exhibition.

Week 3 – Drawing as Inquiry

Key Ideas:

Graphic anthropology · Gesture and perception · Visual thinking

Guiding Questions:

In what ways can drawing function as observation rather than illustration?
How do line, gesture, and tempo change what we notice?

Readings:

Ingold, Tim. Making: Anthropology, Archaeology, Art and Architecture. London: Routledge, 2013. (Ch. 3 “Drawing Making Thinking”)
Causey, Andrew. Drawn to See: Drawing as an Ethnographic Method. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2017. (Introduction)

Seminar (2 hrs)

Lecture: line, gesture, and observation in anthropology and art.
Discussion of drawing as “thinking through doing.”
Review of examples from graphic anthropology and field sketchbooks.

Studio Lab (1 hr): Line as Observation

Objective: Practice slow drawing as ethnographic attention.
Procedure: Spend one hour sketching movements, postures, or textures in a public space.
Output: One-page visual fieldnote + 150-word annotation.

Week 4 – Sound and Listening

Key Ideas:

Aural ethnography · Sonic atmospheres · Acoustic ecologies

Guiding Questions:

What does listening make ethnographically present that looking cannot?
How do sonic atmospheres shape relations and place?

Readings:

Feld, Steven. “Acoustemology.” In Keywords in Sound, edited by Novak and Sakakeeny, 12–21. Durham: Duke University Press, 2015.
Pink, Sarah. Doing Sensory Ethnography. London: Sage, 2015. (Ch. 5 “Sonic Ethnography”)

Seminar (2 hrs)

Discussion on the anthropology of sound and modes of listening.
Collective listening exercise using selected soundscapes.
Debate: What can sound reveal that sight obscures?

Studio Lab (1 hr): Soundwalk

Objective: Explore the sonic texture of place.
Procedure: Conduct a 15-minute soundwalk with eyes closed; record ambient sounds and take brief notes.
Output: 2-minute edited soundscape + 200-word reflection.

Week 5 – Image, Montage, and Mediation

Key Ideas:

Visual ethnography · Photography as relation · Montage as theory

Guiding Questions:

How do sequencing and montage operate as analytic moves?
What ethical relations are produced by photographing and filming others?

Readings:

Grimshaw, Anna, and Amanda Ravetz. Visualizing Anthropology. Bristol: Intellect, 2015. (Selections)
Rouch, Jean. “The Camera and Man.” Studies in the Anthropology of Visual Communication 2 (1): 37–44, 1975.

Seminar (2 hrs)

Lecture: from visual documentation to visual thinking.
Screening and analysis of short ethnographic films (Rouch, MacDougall).
Group discussion on montage as analytical principle.

Studio Lab (1 hr): Photographic Assemblage

Objective: Produce a 3-image sequence exploring relation or rhythm.
Output: A triptych + 200-word statement on sequencing and meaning.

Week 6 – Multimodality and Translation

Key Ideas:

Intermediality · Cross-sensory translation · Form and epistemology

Guiding Questions:

What is gained and lost when a fragment moves across media?
How do different modalities carry different claims to evidence?

Readings:

Lury, Celia, and Nina Wakeford, eds. Inventive Methods. London: Routledge, 2012. (Introduction)
Dattatreyan, Ethiraj Gabriel, and Isaac Marrero-Guillamón. “Introduction: Multimodal Anthropology.” American Anthropologist 121 (1): 220–228, 2019.

Seminar (2 hrs)

Discussion: What does “multimodal” mean within anthropology?
Collective analysis of multimodal projects and their ethical stakes.
Conceptual exercise: mapping your personal “media ecology.”

Studio Lab (1 hr): Medium Translation

Objective: Translate one fragment (text, image, or sound) into another medium.
Output: Two artifacts (original + translation) + 300-word reflection.
Connection: Forms the basis for your second graded assignment.

Week 7 – Assemblage and Curation

Key Ideas:

Editing as method · Aesthetics of relation · Curatorial care

Guiding Questions:

How can editing and arrangement become ethnographic reasoning?
What forms of care are required when curating others’ traces?

Readings:

Myers, Natasha. “Curating the Planthroposcene.” Environmental Humanities 12 (1): 1–22, 2020.
Berlant, Lauren, and Kathleen Stewart. The Hundreds. Durham: Duke University Press, 2019. (Selections)

Seminar (2 hrs)

Lecture: curating as a mode of ethnographic thinking.
Group discussion on editing, sequencing, and relation.
Workshop: planning the structure and concept of your final artifact.

Studio Lab (1 hr): Editing the Field

Objective: Assemble prior outputs into a coherent multimodal piece.
Procedure: Choose three fragments (text, image, sound) and organize them as a narrative, installation, or digital page.
Output: Draft prototype for final exhibition.

Week 8 – Exhibiting the Experiment

Key Ideas:

Public ethnography · Aesthetic knowledge · Ethics of display

Guiding Questions:

How can we present work publicly without closing interpretation?
What responsibilities accompany experimental display in ethnography?

Readings:

Schneider, Arnd, and Christopher Wright. Between Art and Anthropology. Oxford: Berg, 2010. (Introduction)
Marcus, George E. “Experimental Forms for the Expression of Norms in the Ethnography of the Contemporary.” Hau: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 3 (2): 197–217, 2013.

Seminar (2 hrs)

Discussion: exhibiting ethnography without closing meaning.
Peer review of final projects and curatorial statements.
Planning for the public or online exhibition.

Studio Lab (1 hr): Collective Exhibition Assembly

Objective: Prepare and mount your final artifact.
Output: One multimodal piece (zine, short film, installation, or digital work) + 400-word reflection “What experimenting ethnographically taught me.”

Final Output: The Collective Exhibition of Ethnographic Experiments

Description

The course culminates in The Collective Exhibition of Ethnographic Experiments, a multimodal showcase of student projects.

Each participant presents one experimental work—film, installation, zine, map, or sound piece—alongside a 500-word process note and a 1,000-word essay On Ethnography as Medium.

Purpose

The Exhibition functions as a laboratory for multimodal reasoning. It explores how ethnography thinks through making—transforming form into inquiry.

Public Presentation

Presented publicly as an exhibition or digital showcase, the event turns ethnographic experimentation into a collaborative act of composition and critique.